Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

Manipulating “The Eye” 

This exercise has given me a fresh perspective on analyzing writing and literature. I circled every 7 words, skip one, circled the next word, and then skip 6 and circled the seventh word again. This pattern of 7 and 2 helped to exhibit the underlying text of “The Eye.” The words I circled most had violent or horrifying connotations such as remove, straining, sickliness, dying, condemn, paralysis, and abuse. If the words did not have these connotations, they were words pertaining to health, beauty, and art.  This article is about the care and hygiene of the eyes. However, by circling certain words in a pattern, it became clear that this piece has more to do with beautiful and artistic presentation of the human eye and the awful things that occur when one does not follow the article’s rules of etiquette.   

It was also fascinating to see the phrases made by the circled words. Examples include “expedients dying be the use of many,” “eye face it is to Deity visions catch light in human,” and “thus practice near should carefully there often Modern reject good short-sighted to be precisely these only trial the art.”    These phrases speak of methods that desire universal use, of the face being a reflection of god, and of how people should reject their shortsightedness, and how people should judge art in an open minded fashion. At least that is how I interpreted these pieced together phrases. If my findings are in anyway accurate, they reflect the theme of the paper.

Obituary  

            The fabulous knee-high leather fashion boots came to their untimely end Tuesday after four years of devoted service. The heel on the left boot broke on a long walk downtown, making the pair impossible to walk in, thus ending their short lives. The boots dedicated their existence to dressing up any outfit including but not limited to jeans, short dresses, and office casual wear. Although those who wore the boots were few, their admirers were many. A private service will be held at the coat closet where the boots, who are still too beautiful to be thrown out, will be stuffed in the back corner until further noticed. No flowers, please. Instead, please send donations to Footfashion who continue fighting the battle against ugly shoes.

Form of Form 

While looking at the 1970 census form the question that first got my attention was the Head of Household. There is a “Wife of Head” bubble, but not a “Husband of Head” bubble. This makes it obvious how patriarchal our country has always been. The order has to be filled in as follows:

Head of House

Wife of Head

Unmarried Children, Oldest First

Married Children and their Families

Other Relatives of the Head

Non-Relatives of the Head

The form is made only for traditional nuclear families. There is no leniency within the form for non-traditional families.

This form should not have a Head of Household title. It should say “Homeowner” or “First Person Listed on Title, Deed, or Lease.” This question is not biased or sexist. It would also be more precise for the census. When it asks for the names of the other people living in the house it should not have bubbles to fill out, but simply a line that says “Relationship” and the person can write whatever they see fit.